Skyland sits at the crossroads of Alabama Avenue, Naylor Road and Good Hope Road SE. The future Skyland Town Center, to be developed by Rappaport Cos. and William C. Smith Co., is slated to include 436 residential units and 305,000 square feet of retail — including a big box that may or may not be a Walmart.

It’s taken six years and millions of dollars in legal fees, but the struggle for control of the 18-acre site appears to be nearing an end, as 12 eminent domain cases have dwindled to four — two of which are on the verge of settling.

D.C. leaders say they need two more years to resolve the remaining Skyland issues, so that they can transfer clear title to the developers. The city is collecting rent from tenants at Skyland while it resolves the eminent domain cases, and targeted demolition may start as soon as the fall.

The most recent resolution came May 12, when a D.C. Superior Court jury awarded Mary Rose Greene of Fairfax $1.85 million for her 7.06 vacant acres between Akron Place and Fort Baker Drive SE. Greene had fought the District’s $943,000 offer since 2005. Neither Greene, who may still appeal, nor her attorneys returned calls for comment.

At almost the same time the jury in the Greene case returned with its verdict, D.C. and CVS Pharmacy, 2646 Naylor Road SE, came to a consensus, multiple parties said.

“The District and CVS have reached an amicable settlement and a joint motion to dismiss the case will be put in the court shortly by both parties,” said John H.C. Barron, a partner with Duane Morris LLP, which represented CVS in the negotiations.

Barron declined to release details of the settlement. He would only say the deal “obviates the need for any kind of trial or mediation” and results in “good relations” between the District, CVS and Rappaport, which is handling the retail end of the Skyland project.

Rappaport spokeswoman Sheryl Simeck said the existing CVS will be moved into a temporary trailer on site and remain open throughout the town center’s construction. CVS will have a new home in the town center.

The District also has a deal, still unsigned, with the KFC at 2704 Good Hope Road, for which D.C. originally offered $780,000. Joseph Waldo of Norfolk-based Waldo & Lyle PC, KFC’s attorney in this case, said the deal is for “north of that.” The restaurant will remain open for at least a year, Waldo said, but Rappaport has not offered a space for it in the town center.

The last eminent domain holdouts are Autozone, with its store at 2626 Naylor Road, and Samuel Franco, owner of the Discount Mart at 2834 Alabama Ave. Status hearings are scheduled for July 15 and June 15, respectively. The attorneys for Franco and Autozone did not return calls for comment.

As Skyland’s landlord, D.C. maintains the property and collects lease payments from its tenants. In fiscal 2010, the District earned $1.25 million in lease income, according to a Freedom of Information Act response provided to Elaine Mittleman, a Virginia attorney who has handled several Skyland eminent domain cases. At the same time, the District used $1.4 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds to maintain Skyland in fiscal 2010, most of which went to utilities and security.

Simeck, of Rappaport, said there would be nothing to report on leases for the town center, or on a timeline for its construction, until the eminent domain cases are fully resolved. As long as there are pending lawsuits, she said, “we can’t sign any tenants.”

But Mittleman is convinced that Skyland’s redevelopment isn’t being held up by legal wrangling, but rather by money and other issues unrelated to eminent domain.

“I don’t think there is a Skyland,” Mittleman said. “I don’t think they have tenants. I don’t think they have financing. I think it’s been smoke and mirrors all along. This whole business of, ‘We’re just waiting for the court cases to be over,’ I think it’s a charade.”